Hanks and Williamson

But hard to find. Richmond needs to do more to put itself on the map.

Are we the only ones confused or are some of our regional planners two transistors short of a motherboard? Nobody seems to know what Richmond wants to be known for when it grows up.

A few years ago, a reprint from one of the business magazines touting Richmond as a new business center was widely distributed around town to help us convince ourselves that Richmond was not just about Confederate generals any more. More recently came the regional branding effort, led by the local advertising maven David Martin, which touted us as the Historic Richmond Region and seemed to be saying that it is about Confederate generals. Having recently worked with Mr. Martin on an institutional branding exercise, we can tell you that he rarely misses the mark, and we don’t think he did this time either. Richmond is what it is, and it won’t ever become a destination location for the tourist trade if we try to build our image as a Silicon Valley, the Route 128 area in Boston, or, God forbid, Fairfax.

The Richmond area does have vibrant technology components embedded in the local economy. The Greater Richmond Technology Council is home to a number of first-rate information technology companies. The Virginia Biotechnology Association and the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park are building the basis of a strong biotechnology industry in the capital. That is very good news indeed but it won’t create a tourist destination as envisioned by the branding campaign. Have you ever watched code being written or watched a server “serve” a client? How about DNA typing? Trust us when we tell you that those rank well below watching grass grow as audience participation activities.

A recent visit to Savannah, Georgia, brought the point home. Savannah, a lovely place with lots of history, has become a major tourist attraction by capitalizing on its beauty, history and ease of living. In Mr. Martin’s captioning of the Historic Richmond Region, he evoked the same feeling with the tagline “Easy to love.”

We think he should have considered an expanded version of the concept, i.e., “Easy to love but hard to _________.” You can fill in the blank.

We have a couple of candidates. How about “Easy to love but hard to park in.” Savannah has torn down some of its old blighted buildings -- we have some of those! -- and built attractive, convenient and architecturally compatible parking garages.

Or there’s “Easy to love but hard to find.” Having devoted a recent Saturday to a drive through Hanover County’s byways, many of which served the movement of both Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War, we can attest that “Easy to love but hard to find” is a winner.

Another possibility, as noted in the video accompanying the presentation of the new Richmond brand, is “Easy to love, but I drive right through Richmond because there’s no reason to stop.”

So what would we wish for? A little publicity along the Interstate for key historical sites, a road network to make it easy to get to them and perhaps even some parking when one arrives.

We recently had the privilege of hearing Jack Berry talk about the work that Richmond Renaissance is doing to make Richmond a more attractive place: new buildings in the old areas of town, some improvements around historical sites, etc. Good stuff but who knew? And who is going to get to know as long as we only tell each other (but – only if you ask)? Mr. Berry informed us that his marketing budget is very limited. There’s an old adage in the marketing business that something isn’t real until the people who need to know about it actually know about it. If that’s true, we’ve got a way to go to let all those “drive bys” know that there is neat stuff here to see and do.

There’s an interesting phenomenon about “neat” places. They end up attracting the kind of desirable people and businesses that often can’t be recruited directly. Not all of those software gurus in Boston are there because of MIT; many live there because of the Charles River and Fanieul Hall. Not all of the software and networking types in Fairfax are there because of the federal government and the great road system; they’re drawn to the upscale environment with lots of amenities. Workers with skills in demand and the companies attempting to hire them have lots of options about where to locate, and they tend to pick “neat” places.

The point to recognize – and build on – is that many of the very things that make a city a great place for tourists also make it a cool place for Knowledge Workers. Thus, by doing a good job of promoting tourism and the amenities necessary to attract and support them, we also indirectly promote the growth of a 21st Century economy.

Perhaps, if we are clever, we can have it both ways but we’ll have to be clear about how we’re going to do that. Let’s spend a little money letting people know we are making Richmond truly “Easy to love” with no “buts,” and we’ll get our fair share of them here. Let’s not try to make Richmond something it isn’t; let’s capitalize on what it is – rich in history. That’s actually easy to love.

-- July 22, 2002

Hanks and Williamson are, respectively, Executive Vice President of the College and Vice President for Workforce Development at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, as well as Principals in the management consulting firm, Hanks-Williamson & Associates (www.hwagroup.com).

EASY TO LOVE...